Brave New World

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Summary: The future of our yesterday, written in its yesterday.
Review: This is not our future. This is our present. Huxley pulled out his crystal ball and told of a future to come. This world wants nothing that cannot be proved scientifically (much like our present). They are cold and love nothing but their leader, their free sex, themselves. They are also cosmopolitanistic, everyone being members of the world rather than regions. They wish for a government-rationed drug to ameliorate the problems of the people, actually allowing for the ignorance of their own problems. Life, human dignity, family, love, hate; all of these concepts can no longer be defined in all seriousness without laughing out of nervousness.

What if your essence came from a test tube? What if ten last names existed for two billion people? What if promiscuity were normal and expected? What if you slept as a child with morals drilled into you as you slept? What if your life began on a conveyor belt (possibly never really leaving)? What if your existence in the socio-economic status was determined before you were even born? As you read this book you will see that this is our world in a rudimentary sense. And as you read this book you will find that many of what Huxley writes about is hauntingly true. For instance, the laws of our multi-dimensional world break down into a mere height-breadth world over the Internet, as there are no regions of neither space beyond this nor time, as anything including visions and plans for the future can be accessed with the greatest of ease. People in the poorest conditions delve into television to forget their problems. Others allow themselves into the interenet to do it.

Mr. Huxley also pokes the ribs of the newly-formed U.S.S.R. with names such as Lenina and Bernard Marx (keep your eye on this one; he proves quite interesting). The entire time he also makes fun of religion and reverence in the world, with Ford as the central figure.

This novel takes place in the future, known as 632 A.F., our equivalent of 2349 A.D., in what was once Great Britain, and in many different places at once, often flipping from one scene to another without much warning, so keep at it. The caledar doesn't tend to make for too many difficulties, but the Great Britain influence is a presence that may trip you up. I believe you will thoroughly enjoy the book, or you will be so frightened of what it says that you will wake up at night in cold sweats. Either way, it is entirely enlightening, and you can definitely say that it will "flip you out" or "messed you up," whichever coloquialism you prefer. Trust a disembodied Internet "voice" and purchase it. If you honestly don't like it, I'll buy it from you; I wouldn't mind reading it a third time. (I would love to hear personally what you have to say or ask [if need be] on this or any other book.

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Summary: One of the best sci-fi books of all time
Review: truly a classic. if you havnt read it, go now you still have tim

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Summary: SOMA, SOMA, SOMA...Some good stuff.
Review: When I read Brave New World, I was a fifteen year old teen in my 10th grade English honors high school class. I read that book in two days. Now almost seventeen, I still am intrigued by the book. I've recommended the book to all my friends. Not to say that having very promiscuous sex is good but I believe there are two types of sex in a human's soul. Lust and Love.Aldous Huxley is simply incredible for writing Brave New World at the time he did. There are so many things about Brave New World that can be analyzed and criticized. The Brave New World is a world of pure ecstasy and euphoria, someplace where some of us wish we could be.It's like a heaven but still a sin. I recommend this book to everyone, from school teachers to preachers to government officials to your average American mom. People need to learn how to expand their minds. Whether it be with drugs, or to the acceptance of homosexuality. Strive to take in knowledge.

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Summary: A near, frightening future?
Review: Huxley's masterpiece " Brave New World" warns us of a scaring future: the State in complete control of mankind, from birth to death. Huxley shows how easily this can be done, mostly by providing the people with their desires (sex, safety, health, etc). Another very important method is not to allow people to have children (in fact, the word "mother" is most obscene) or even longlasting relationships, thus preventing the existence of any strong afections. This is also basic in George Orwell's 1984. Both authors clearly perceive that, in its effort to be heartly accepted and obbeyed by the everyone, the State must destroy all feelings which might be stronger than people's love of the Government. In both books, people prefer happiness (or security) at the expense of freedom - of action as well as of thought. Both societies explicitly condition themselves not to question the State, but to accept it as a need. When will we begin to question information as it gets to us? When will we choose freedom? When will we begin to deny Brave New World

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Summary: this is the future?
Review: Reading this book rendered me incapacitated and winded at the thought that all the effort I've put into my life will be for nought. In the future everyone will be nurtured and conditioned to fit into a certain group that will dictate their behaviour for the rest of their lives. This truly is a horrific portrayal of the future. Just because of the sheer banality and inanity of it all. Let me be a savage in the world of the alpha-minus' and epsilon semi-morons and they would not know what hit them. Huxley's vision remains fresh now as the day he wrote it. The cadences of his prose flourish with the resplendent description of the future. I have never read a book of this nature and had such a cathartic experience. Read and enjoy.

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Summary: As Dystopia and prophecy it is chilling, but weak prose.
Review: Huxley and his Brave New World has a permanent place in the annals of literature. It is forever mentioned in the same breath as 1984 as a warning of the dangers of dystopic society.

And as Dystopia, it works very very well indeed. Whereas Orwell's dark world is essentially sateric and unlikely to occur in toto, Huxley's world is all too easy to imagine coming to pass. Humanity segmented by ability into roles they cannot surmount. Unrestricted procreation turned into a violent taboo while sexuality is made readily accessible. And most of all... a world where everything is designed to make you happy. All the games and work and social groups are meant to keep everyone feeling very close and happy with each other and themselves, with drugs a last resort to ensure a holiday.

Part of what makes the Brave New World frightening is that no evil mastermind is at its head. Its leaders believe in all the principles their followers do, and if freedom, individuality, art and science are sacrificed onto the alter of perpetual group happiness, well, is that too high a price to pay? If so -- don't worry about it. Have some Soma. Relax. Be happy.

Sadly, the text of the work doesn't live up to the concepts of the work. Huxley's expositional style is weak, sounding almost like an old time radio announcer barking out description and editorializing all at once. There is little subtlty in the Brave New World -- everything is painted with a broad brush, to ensure maximum effect at the cost of readibility. The dialogue never really rings true, either. If this were written today, it would have trouble being published.

But it wasn't. And if far more sophisticated and technically proficient examples of Dystopic fiction have appeared since, it is due in large part to Huxley and his Brave New World, who paved the way by daring to sound the hardest warning of all -- Death by Happiness

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Summary: A terrifying vision of the future that may come to be.
Review: Brave New World is a masterpiece. Aldous Huxley has given his readers a new look into a reality that is quite possible. The book is the story of a future world where all true emotions have been either obliterated or are controlled by the government. Nobody knows what a parent is and the thought of a mother and father is considered horrifying and repulsive. People are conditioned from birth to act certain ways and think certain ways, even the jobs they will have are decided for them. The is also the story of a few desperate people trying to understand whether their lives are really happy at all and even worth living. In the end a decision must be made that will truly decide the price of real human freedo

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Summary: A 65 years old book that still is in time!
Review: In the world, the brave new world, where Bernard Marx lives, people are produced in test-tubes in a laboratory. Sex and soma, the drug that doesn't give you any bieffects, is the main things in life. Everyone belongs to everyone, marrige isn't to talk about, just have sex with anyone you want to, all people on Earth are happy. Is this really the way this planet will end? Even considering the fact that everyone is happy, or rather believe thay are happy, this book is scary. Today even more scary when these scientists have cloned the sheep and things like the ones in Brave new world aren't as unbelievable as they should

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Summary: Only For School
Review: This book is heavy on ideas, light on plot.

Those looking for an engaging story and characters they can identify with had best look elsewhere. It's a favourite of English teachers everywhere, since it's so good for stimulating class discussion and forcing students to consider such abstract concepts as happiness and totalitarianism. Though this is a noble purpose, it's not really good for much else.

Sorry, Aldous Huxley lovers. I'm sticking with Orwell.

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Summary: (3.5) Worth reading once, but not as good as Orwell's "1984"
Review: The year is 632 A.F. ("after Ford"), and babies are no longer born. No one has a mother or father. In fact, those terms are now considered "dirty" words and are no longer used. Instead, everyone begins life as a test-tube baby, genetically and environmentally conditioned to fit into their own predestined social caste - Alpha (the highest caste, composed of society's most intelligent members), Beta, Delta, Gamma, or Epsilon (the lowest caste, composed of mindless semi-moron clone laborers). Godlike status has been conferred upon Henry Ford, and mass production is taken to frightening extremes. The world is considered stable, and everyone is happy. Working hours are light (and people are pre-conditioned to enjoy their work anyway), entertainment options abound, and promiscuity is encouraged. Taking the place of church services are weekly orgies. Happiness is the ultimate goal of existence, and if anyone should ever feel the slightest hint of depression, they are conditioned to turn immediately to the hallucinogenic drug called "soma" for immediate relief.

However, among the ranks of the intellectual Alphas, there remain a few who question the desirability of this synthetic world. One such man is Bernard Marx (interestingly, most of the names in this novel are adapted from those of historical political figures and theorists - Lenina Crowne, Polly Trotsky, Benito Hoover, Sarojini Engels, Herbert Bakunin, Helmoltz Watson, etc.). A few places in the world that are not considered worth modernizing are set aside as "savage reservations" which are now the only places where people still live in a "pre-Fordian" way. Marx takes a vacation to one of these reservations, and ends up bringing a savage back home with him. This, of course, sets the stage for all sorts of challenges to the society's values.

Perhaps I was expecting too much, based on all I'd previously heard about the book, or perhaps I would have been more struck by it if I hadn't already read "1984" by George Orwell, but Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" came as a bit of a disappointment to me. It's definitely worth reading once, especially for fans of dystopian literature, but unlike "1984" it's not one I'm likely to return to for a second helping anytime soon. The ideas Huxley puts forth are valuable, but the delivery leaves room for improvement. The story just doesn't hang together quite tightly enough to pack a full-blown punch.

The first couple of chapters are very interesting and seem promising, but after that it felt like the story deteriorated somewhat. As I said before, I do admire the points Huxley makes, but the book was not very compelling as a whole. Much of it takes the form of satire, which is fine, and even amusing, but then there are numerous points at which the plot goes far overboard and borders on the ridiculous. When this happens, the story ceases to be believable, compromising the strength of Huxley's messages. One of the things that makes Orwell's "1984" so terrifying and thought-provoking is that, though it is futuristic fiction, it is so detailed and serious that is actually seems plausible. Books like this need to be both plausible and scary for them to have an impact. If the reader doesn't get the feeling that such a world just might actually come into being, and that it is not a place they want to live, then it's hard to take the message seriously.

My overall verdict, therefore, is that you should read "Brave New World" once, but, unless you're a real dystopia buff, I'd recommend checking it out of the library or borrowing a copy from someone else rather than purchasing it. It's a valuable piece for the ideas is proposes, and it's a quick and easy read, but it is not the most effective book of its type. The fact that it was written so long ago (1932) also means that it does not take into account any historical events that have happened since then, and perhaps this is another reason why it seems a little less realistic. I do not regret reading it, as having done so adds to one's literary and philosophical repertoire, but I much more highly recommend George Orwell's "1984" (written in 1948), which is both thoroughly engaging and highly thought-provoking.